Lito Adiwang believes former teammate Joshua Pacio “can neutralize” Jarred Brooks' overwhelming wrestling at ONE 166

Lito Adiwang believes things will be vastly different when heated rivals Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks meet for the second time.

The two top 125-pound fighters will be part of the massive ONE 166: Qatar card, with Pacio challenging Brooks for the ONE strawweight MMA world title at Lusail Sports Arena.

A little over a week before the March 1 encounter, Pacio’s good friend and former teammate Adiwang explained how the former ONE strawweight MMA world champion could turn the tables against Brooks.

Lito Adiwang told The MMA Superfan that Pacio has improved his grappling and could even use that refined skill against Brooks in Qatar:

“This time, I think he can neutralize Brooks’ wrestling and find a way to take control on the ground by creating scrambles so he can get back up. I know he can create good positions and use ground and pound or possibly even submission attempts this time.”

Brooks is one of the most aggressive wrestlers in ONE Championship, and he will stop at nothing to dictate a match once it hits the ground or the cage.

That was evident during his first fight against Pacio at ONE 164. ‘The Monkey God’ had control for much of the fight and showed enough tenacity in his striking exchanges with Pacio to earn the unanimous decision win.

Nevertheless, Adiwang believes his former Team Lakay stablemate has made the grappling improvements to subdue Brooks.

ONE 166 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

Watch Adiwang's entire interview below:

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Lito Adiwang believes a matchup against Joshua Pacio could happen down the line

For much of their careers, Lito Adiwang and Joshua Pacio were each other’s training partners at Team Lakay.

Things, however, changed drastically in the past year.

Both Pacio and Adiwang left the famed stable and went their separate ways. Pacio is now part of the newly formed Lions Nation MMA, while Adiwang joined Bali’s Soma Fight Club.

Adiwang, now based in Indonesia, recently captured his third straight win when he scored a unanimous decision victory over Danial Williams at ONE Fight Night 19.

In an interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Adiwang said it would be hard to fight Pacio but it’s a scenario that could happen in the future:

“Yeah, it’s tough [to fight Joshua Pacio], but we’ll see. We’ll cross the bridge once we’re there.”